Cubs fans roast Craig Counsell after his blind Ryan Pressly trust backfires

The Chicago Cubs may very well defeat the Seattle Mariners on Friday, or in their weekend series, but Craig Counsell is making is so much harder to do so thanks to his blind trust of one of the game's former top relief pitchers. The Cubs have tried to use Ryan Pressly in many different roles, whether it be closer or middle relief. On Friday, Counsell brought Pressly in to start the sixth inning after Matthew Boyd threw less than 80 pitches of two-run ball. That mistake came back to haunt him.

Counsell typically has a good feel for his bullpen, but he has struggled to place Pressly in a situation to success. This season, Pressly has a 3.54 ERA, but a -0.2 WAR to boot. He was removed from the closer's role earlier this season and hasn't regained that confidence.

Pressly gave up two quick runs on a home run from Mitch Garver, which is something Counsell ought to have expected given the high-leverage stakes. Cal Raleigh would hit a home run to give the Mariners the lead in the next inning.

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Craig Counsell should've known better than to trust Cubs pitcher Ryan Pressly

Pressly has ruined far too many games for the Cubs this season. Counsell has maintained that Chicago will need the two-time All-Star at his best, but if Boyd had thrown under 80 pitches at the time, why was it necessary to pull him? Cubs fans had some question on that approach and more.

"How many hits does Pressly give up for counsell gets him. Like….he's not been good this inning and now leaving him in with traffic. This is now his game to lose," Cubs fan PW wrote.

"The Ryan Pressly experience needs to be seriously evaluated," another user said.

"No reason Boyd should have pulled at 76 pitches for this bum Pressly who has blown the lead in 1 inning," Gh60 wrote.

Craig Counsell could come to regret pulling his pitcher too early

In the Tokyo Series, Counsell caught heat for pulling Shota Imanaga too early against the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the time, Counsell had a lot of evidence on his side, mainly that Imanaga hadn't pitched in many spring training games and it was only mid-March. I don't blame him for being conservative, especially with a starting pitcher as valuable as Imanaga who – as we now know – is already injured this season.

However, Boyd is a different story entirely. He is a veteran starting pitcher the Cubs have little invested in. He was pitching well on Friday through five innings, and Chicago had a two-run lead. While I can understand that the Cubs bullpen was well-rested at the time, specifically Pressly, why not save him for later? Boyd could've made it through at least another inning. Instead, Counsell robbed him of that opportunity and may have lost the game in the process.